Air Travel

by Steven Emmet; Solana Beach, CA

Dear Globetrotter:

In the Copenhagen International Airport, at Kastrup, is a new lounge, the CPH Apartment (phone +45 32 31 34 74), designed to resemble a modern city dwelling. The lounge is located past security check-in at Terminal 2 and open 5:30 a.m.-8 p.m. daily. The DKK169 (near $32) entry fee covers use of computers, WiFi and recharging outlets plus hot and cold drinks, snacks and fresh fruit.

Now that Thalys runs a direct high-speed train daily between Brussels International Airport and Paris Gare du Nord (Jan. ’12, pg. 47), travelers from India, Canada or the US to Brussels flying Jet Airways can take advantage of a new code-share to transfer to Paris at no extra charge (or land in Paris and take the train to Brussels). When a traveler books his flight, a code-share number for the Thalys ticket is automatically included. The one-hour 47-minute train trip normally would cost €78 (near $104) first class or €66 second class.

We took a fascinating trip, called “Life Along the Mekong River by Barge,” with Road Scholar (Boston, MA; 800/454-5768), Sept. 27-Oct. 11, 2011.

Six miles from Schiphol Airport, near Amsterdam, I spent a night in Hotel Zwanenburg (Olmenlaan 52, 1161 JX Zwanenburg, The Netherlands; phone 31 20 497 80 20) on Sept. 28, 2011.

The hotel is convenient to the center of Zwanenburg, for restaurants and a supermarket. It is also close to bus service to Amsterdam (20 minutes away), and it runs a free airport shuttle from 5:30 a.m. to midnight. On arrival, I contacted the hotel and was picked up at bus stop B14.

In Australia, hot-air balloon flights to view Uluru (Ayers Rock) from afar are offered by Outback Ballooning (P.O. Box 2702, Alice Springs, NT, Australia 0871; phone +61 0 8 8952 8723). Guests are picked up from their hotels at Yalara before dawn and driven to the takeoff site 10 to 25 kilometers south of the rock. The flight, itself, covers about 10 kilometers in 45 to 60 minutes, while the entire excursion takes four to five hours. In 2012, flights run March 1-Oct. 31 and cost AUD450 (near $453) per person, with a light breakfast.

My husband, John, and I found Green Papaya Travel (21B Lo Duc St., Hai Ba Trung Dist., Hanoi City, Vietnam; phone +84 391 323 4507) in ITN’s The MART classifieds and would recommend them to anyone who wants to see Southeast Asia. Green Papaya was great. We communicated by e-mail and they made all the arrangements (except international flights) for our 17-day trip to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, Sept. 23-Oct. 11, 2011. We asked for, at least, three-star hotels, a car with air-conditioning, a driver and English-speaking guides.

I am writing in regard to Emirates flight EK225 on May 31, 2011, from Dubai to San Francisco, on which I was a passenger in economy class.